Force Fins Pro personal review

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

to best learn how to use the Force Fins, the best thing is to take the fins off and kick without them. No kick board nothing, just hop in the pool and kick end to end midwater (or as far as you can go). Do that for 200 or so meters, then slip the fins on and repeat, the only thing you should feel is an increase in speed.

Although this is the strong flutter method, as we never really want to go that fast. you can save a lot of air , with a 3-5 beat flutter/scissor kick that has lots of kick and glide feel to it.

the strange feeling of the fin bending away from your foot is just the way the fins work, yes it "feels" odd , but that's just because it is odd. There are only 2 fins on the market that flex under your foot (Slingshots being the other with the pivot under your instep). All other fins have the pivot point of the blade 2-6 inches in front of your toes. Even with the Slingshots there is a hard footpocket that completely encloses your toes so you don't feel the flex point. Give the fins a couple of dives and you'll stop noticing the flex away from your foot and it will feel normal.

As far as thrust goes, you mention they are slightly better than normal fins when you are on your back, in fact they are doing the same thing when you are submerged, you just don't feel the tactical feedback of the load on your shins/knees so you don't think they are providing propulsion. When you are on your back (surfaced) your eyes see the motion and fill in the gap of tactical feedback and your brain thinks everything is normal.

Frog Kick- the design of the Force Fin incorporates and energy saving and drag reducing function that allows the fin to basically collapse on the recovery stroke, this means that a frog kick which utilizes the underside of the blade (in recovery mode) to move forward. Bascially, the design of the blade reduces the effectiveness of a frog kick. The Excellerating Force Fin was designed to allow a strong frog kick, but still maintain all the other advantages of the ForceFin line.
 
As far as thrust goes, you mention they are slightly better than normal fins when you are on your back, in fact they are doing the same thing when you are submerged, you just don't feel the tactical feedback of the load on your shins/knees so you don't think they are providing propulsion. When you are on your back (surfaced) your eyes see the motion and fill in the gap of tactical feedback and your brain thinks everything is normal.

What I meant was that they are better for swimming backward (feet first) in the normal face-down position, not swimming on my back. When I was on my back at the surface, the only somehow acceptable move was to open my legs in V then close the V (like say a horizontal flutter instead of a vertical one, or like a frog kick with straight legs).
 
I agree. I hated them after the first dive, but not so much after the second. After more than a hundred dives, I will never use others. It's a futile exercise to try and report based on one experience. You need to get your feet conditioned to how they work. Once achieved, it's remarkable just how effective and efficient they are.

I will agree. I have the original basic force fins and love them. I use them everywhere for classes and my own travel diving. It took awhile to adapt but I feel I have good power and speed. They are easy travel fins also.
 
They look too goofy for me. I rather be less efficient and waste more energy then to wear those things.... just my opinion!
 
They look too goofy for me. I rather be less efficient and waste more energy then to wear those things.... just my opinion!

Oh come now, I'm sure that you could find a pair that's goofier looking after all there are several pairs in art museums! Personally, I like the fact that they are shorter than most fins. You have to admit that a shorter fin is easier to travel with.

Jason
 
They look too goofy for me. I rather be less efficient and waste more energy then to wear those things.... just my opinion!

In a pursuit that is typified by overweight people in tight rubber suits with snot hanging out of their noses I'm surprised anyone cares what a piece of gear looks like!

:shocked2:
 
In a pursuit that is typified by overweight people in tight rubber suits with snot hanging out of their noses I'm surprised anyone cares what a piece of gear looks like!

:shocked2:

not me... not overweight or anything!
 
I own multiple pairs of force fins, admittedly I am not their biggest fan, but I will try to give you an objective review.

I have three pairs of the regular force fins, because my LDC pushes them very hard, my kids wont use them, and I am very selective about when I do, pretty much in the pool with newbies because they are VERY easy to manuver espp when standing on the bottom and doing skills.

DO NOT TRY TO SNORKEL OR SURFACE SWIM WITH THEM EVER, trust me, worst experience ever

the kick is diferent and needs some getting used to, BUT I will concede there is less cramping than with traditional fins, my ex wife loves themn for this reason.

You dont feel the thrust the way you will with a jet fin, but you are definately doing better than with a split fin (so dont be in a hurry), i have used them when teaching open water classes, because they do slow me down from my old BLADES, but at times it will feel like you are spinning your wheels, I think this is mostly due to not feeling the kick you are used to (psychological) not as slow as you think at first.

I do use the FF Delta force, or Tan Delta or something like that, with my tec rig, mainly due to easy on/ off, esp with bungies and with 145 lbs tec rig on my back I need all the help I can get somedays, but I often wonder if they will get me to the surface if I ever had to swim for it. But for normal and relaxed diving they are ok, frog kick better and maybe a bit more comfortable than some other fins out there.

My personal recommend- try a ferw others and COMPARE before you buy, try one of each at same time, I can see why they have a diehard following, but they are pricey if you dont turn out to be a diehard.
 
or they forget how it was with other fins before and start to accept the situation..

Or they started using them correctly! Tell me, how well did you kick with your original fins? Was it like the walking you were used to? No! IT is an adjustment retraining your kick. Once you start using them correctly it is amazing the difference makes. Why is it that non force fin users are so quick to attack those that do? If you don't want to try them don't, no big deal.
 
In a pursuit that is typified by overweight people in tight rubber suits with snot hanging out of their noses I'm surprised anyone cares what a piece of gear looks like!

:shocked2:

Hey! I resemble that remark!
 

Back
Top Bottom